Thursday, October 05, 2006

There are neither suspects nor convicted in relation to attempted assassination of Macedonia's former president Kiro Gligorov although 11 years have elapsed after the car bomb explosion in downtown Skopje.

A remote-controlled bomb went off shortly before 10:00 hrs on 3 October 1995 at Makedonija Street near Bristol hotel. The bomb, stashed in parked automobile, was activated when president's limousine was passing by.The explosion killed president Gligorov's driver and injured two by-passers. One of the injured people died.Gligorov suffered severe injuries in the head and it took months to recover. Later on, he resumed presidential duty till expiration of mandate.The investigation into attempted assassination turned futile. There were different indications on who might have ordered the assassination, nonetheless, the most likely thesis is that the assassination was masterminded by Serbian mobsters with logistical support from Macedonia and secrete services of neighboring countries.The motive and the mastermind of the assassination is still enigma. The investigation remained deadlocked, only the media continued to seek evidence in a bid to shed light on the assassination.

At the time of attack, a number of high-ranking police officials were not in Skopje. The initial measures in the course of investigation, such as closing of borders and airports, were carried out with a few-hour delay.Later on, the investigation was directed to individuals and organizations which were later proved to have nothing to do with the assassination.The then interior minister Ljubomir Danailov-Frckovski said a powerful multinational company from neighboring country had masterminded the assassination. Media pointed their finger on Bulgarian Multigroup.Gligorov had invited the then chief of Multigroup, Ilija Pavlov, who assured the president that Multigroup was not involved in the attempted assassination.

The last institutional attempt to shed a light on the assassination was made during Ljubco Georgievski's government (1998-2002), when Stavre Djikov served as public prosecutor and Ljube Boskovski as interior minister.